


I Feel Good

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s05e07 Separation of Powers, F/M, Friendship, Missing Scene, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-15
Updated: 2009-10-15
Packaged: 2019-05-30 10:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15094424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Find 0ut the back story to Donna's snarky "Admiral Feel Good' comment





	I Feel Good

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: I was watching Separation of Powers (where Josh has a cold and is asking Donna for the 'industrial strength' cold medication) and I got to wonder about the origin of \"Admiral Feelgood\".

It may help to know the song \"I Feel Good\". This story is beta'd.

Timeline: Early S5, sometime before Separation of Powers

Disclaimer: Not mine. Probably a good thing because if Josh was mine...

Feedback: Is always appreciated  


* * *

Donna arrived at her desk early. Josh was traveling with the President on a one day trip to St Louis and Donna knew she would be needed to solve any last minute crises and find lost files before Josh could be on his way. 

She had barely put down her bag and coffee before Josh stood before her. "Stood" may have been overstating things a bit. Slumped was a more accurate term. 

"You look terrible," Donna immediately placed her hand against his forehead. "God Josh, you're burning up!" 

"You know all those pills and potions you've been making me take the last few days? The ones that stop a cold from developing?" 

"Yes," Donna nodded. 

"Don't work," Josh tried for annoyed but only managed to sound whiny. 

"They're not a guarantee." 

"But you gave them to me!" Josh replied in indignation. 

"That didn't mean you had to take them." 

"Why wouldn't I take them? I trust you with my life." He found he couldn't break eye contact with her. Lightening the mood, he said "It's not like you were slipping me arsenic." 

"There've been times..." Donna muttered. 

"What?" Josh asked. 

"Nothing," she replied but Josh's narrowed gaze made her guess he'd heard. 

"What did you give me?" 

"Echinacea, garlic pills, cod liver oil pills and Vitamin C – 3 times a day," Donna recited as she sorted through a stack of message slips. 

"Yeah. About that," Josh began. 

"Hmm?" 

"When you gave me the pills and told me to take one of each, three times a day. I may not have followed your instructions exactly." 

"Josh! What did you do?" Donna was now giving him her full attention. 

"I knew I'd forget to take the midday and evening pills, so I'd take them all in the morning." 

"Joshua!" Donna shouted. Lowering her voice, she said, "You can't do that. You have to space them out during the day." 

"You should have brought me each dose," Josh said, trying to throw the blame of himself. 

"You're a grown man Josh. You don't need me to look after you." 

"Yes, I do." Again, their eyes locked. Again, they were having a moment. Things had been different between them recently, especially since the incident with Carrick. Not worse, possibly better, but definitely different. They'd become even more comfortable with each other. It was if they had independently but simultaneously decided to no longer hide their feelings. Nothing was said but somehow everything they said and did spoke of their commitment to each other. 

Donna broke the mood. "Josh, you can't go to St Louis. You've got a temperature and you're coming down with a cold." 

"I'll be fine," he reassured her. "Short trip, back by evening. Besides, with Leo unable to go, I'm next. Even if I am benched, as Leo puts it. Government has to go on. The President is relying on me." 

With that Donna knew she stood no chance of getting Josh to change his mind. Josh's loyalty was to the President, not to his own health. 

"Fine. But promise me you'll take it easy. Drink lots of water and sit down when you can." 

"Donna..." 

"Promise me." Josh may not overly care about his health but Donna worried about him more than she should. 

Seeing the intensity in her eyes, Josh stopped putting up a fight. "I promise," he said softly. 

"Good. Now get going. I've put all the notes for today's meeting and speech into your backpack. I'll put in some throat lozenges and a box of Kleenex. The motorcade leaves in 10 minutes. You're good to go." 

"Have a good day, dear," Josh teased as he left. He was almost tempted to act out the scene further by kissing her goodbye but stopped himself in the nick of time. Better leave that idea well alone! 

**********************************************************************

The day passed peacefully enough for Donna. Josh had only called 5 times, mostly to complain about how bad he felt. What she didn't know was that he called her 5 times because talking and listening to Donna made him feel better. 

Donna had a leisurely lunch with Carol and then summarised some documents from her 'What a Shame' file that Josh hadn't found time to read. She was just sitting down with a cup of tea when Carol approached her cubicle. 

"Um, Donna?" Carol sounded apprehensive. "CJ just called me from the plane. She asked me to ask you to meet the plane at Andrews." 

"Meet the plane? Why? I don't usually. Besides, I told Josh I'd be here when he returned." 

"Well, here's the thing. CJ specifically asked for you to come. She told me to tell you not to panic but she needs your help with Josh." 

"Help? What kind of help?" Donna tried to keep the concern out of her voice. 

"I don't know but there'll be a car here in ½ hour to drive you to Andrews." 

Donna sighed. There was no pointing in shooting the messenger. She couldn't imagine what kind of trouble Josh had got into that required her presence at the airport but she knew CJ wouldn't ask unless it was important. 

Within the hour Donna was standing in the rooms assigned to White House staffers, watching Air Force One taxi to a halt. After the initial flurry of activity, the door opened and the President descended the stairs and headed in the direction of Marine One, waiting to transport him directly to the White House. 

The back door of the plane opened, allowing staff and press to disembark. Donna didn't know if she should laugh or cry as she observed the first members of staff. CJ and an unknown woman in uniform were helping Josh off the plane. 

Quickly Donna registered something was very wrong with Josh and she dashed across the tarmac to where the women were struggling to keep Josh upright. 

"Josh, what's wrong? CJ, what the hell is the matter with him?" Donna's voice escalated as she released the worry inside. 

"Relax Donna. He's fine. Well, sort of...," she choked on a laugh as Donna glared at her. "He, um, had a bad reaction to some cold medication. Who knew all those jokes about his sensitive system extended to over the counter medication?" 

"CJ," Donna began but was cut off. 

"Donna, my love, I'll answer all your questions soon. But right now, we're dragging a stoned man of Air Force One in front of the press pool. I'm not wild about the visual. I'd like to get him in the car before someone starts taking photos." 

Sighing, Donna knew CJ was right. At that moment, Josh raised his head and looked at her. Donna gasped at the glazed look in his eyes. He was on quite a trip! Josh registered Donna presence and repeated CJ's words. "Donna, my love," and then slumped further. The three women managed to get him to the car without further incident. CJ and Donna sat either side of him in the back seat, while the mysterious uniformed woman sat up front. Josh slowly tipped sideways, ending up with his head on Donna's shoulder. 

"CJ, how did he get like this?" Donna demanded answers. 

"Josh's cold really hit him hard by the time we were ready to leave St Louis. Takeoff was a whole new experience in pain for him. He was feeling miserable and wasn't beyond sharing that misery with everyone. He needed something to alleviate the symptoms and allow him to be relatively pain free during descent." 

"Ok, I get that but who was the doofus who gave him the medication?" 

"That would be ma'am," came the voice from the front. "Commander O'Donnell, medical officer in attendance on AF1." 

Donna didn't know how to respond. For this woman to be serving on AF1, she had to be a highly trained and well respected doctor and Donna had just insulted her. But Donna was now dealing with the repercussions. A drooling Josh was resting against her. His only words were mutterings of "Feel good." Donna wasn't sure to whom he was referring! 

"Commander, please accept my apologies. I'm sure you were doing what you thought best." 

"Yes, ma'am. But there was a slight problem. I gave Josh 4 pills. 2 to take on board and another 2 for him to take when he got home, before going to bed. But..." her voice dwindled away. 

"He took them all." Donna sighed. "Has he been like this the whole time?" 

CJ gave a wicked laugh. "Oh no. He gave us quite the floor show for awhile. He was singing." 

"Singing? Oh that can't be good." 

"Actually he has quite a good voice. Who knew?" 

That wasn't what concerned Donna. If the press got hold of this or worse, the President, Josh would never hear the end of it. 

CJ continued. "He worked his way through a medley of Harry Chapin songs and was taking requests when he slumped. Pity, I haven't heard all verse of American Pie for years." 

"I'm sorry ma'am. If I'd known he was going to take all of them, I'd have issued the remaining 2 pills once we were on the ground." 

Donna felt Josh stir. She stifled a giggle as she realised he was softly singing "I Feel Good." She caressed his head and murmured, "I know you do." Pulling up in front of his town house, Commander O'Donnell helped get Josh out of the car. 

Josh bleary eyed, looked at the Commander. "Thank you", he slurred. "I feel good. Great even! You're a very clever doctor. You should be an admiral. I'm gonna tell the President to promote you to Admiral." Josh was swaying as he spoke but Donna had one arm around his waist to hold him upright. 

"Will you be alright with him, Ms Moss?" the Commander asked, very business like. 

"Thank you Commander, we'll be fine. CJ, you should go back to the office and put out any spot fires this little incident may have caused." Donna dismissed both women with a nod of her head and proceeded to usher Josh upstairs. 

Commander O'Donnell looked at CJ. "Will she be ok?" 

"Donna's handled worse. Besides, Josh will feel better when he knows Donna is looking after him. They have some sort of ...connection. It's hard to explain. Sorry". 

"I understand Ms Cregg. He's lucky to have her." 

"That he is. I only hope one day he'll notice." 

Donna got Josh through his door and poured him onto the sofa. She tugged off his shoes and swung his legs up, covering them with a throw rug. He was becoming more aware of his surroundings and he rested his eyes on Donna. 

"Donna? Is that you? What are you doing on Air Force One?" he asked. 

"I'm not on the plane. Look around. You're at home." 

"Home? How the hell did I get here?" 

"You were carried off the plane strapped to a gurney," Donna couldn't help but mess with him. 

Josh's eyes struggled to focus and Donna took pity on him. 

"What is the last thing you remember?" Donna smiled as she asked. 

Josh ran a hand through his hair. He visualised boarding the plane in St Louis, he could almost feel the pain in his ears he'd experienced at take off. He recalled CJ sending for the on board doctor. A very attractive woman in uniform materialised and gave him some meds to help. Then he remembered the singing! He looked into Donna's eyes, shock registering as it all came back to him. 

"Ah, the light switch is now on!" Donna smiled. 

"Oh my God." 

"Yes, you are AF1's very own karaoke machine! You were even taking requests. You owe CJ a rendition of American Pie, by the way." 

"Oh my God." 

"Josh, you have to stop saying that." 

"I got stoned on the President's plane?" 

"Yep. That'll be quite a story for the grandchildren. Or your memoires!" 

"I remember the doctor coming and giving me the pills and then things get a little fuzzy." 

"I'm not surprised. You weren't supposed to take them in one go." 

"I know. Stupid, huh? But I felt so awful and she looked at me with big blue eyes. She looked after me and I guess I just..." 

He didn't get a chance to finish. Donna shot up from the place she'd been sitting, perched alongside Josh on the sofa. 

"So Admiral Feel Good bats her eyes at you and you lose cognitive function? Taking 4 pills was dangerous Josh." 

"I know. I'm sorry," then Donna's words penetrated the fog in his brain. 

"Admiral Feel Good?" Josh smirked. "I don't think that is her name, Donna. Doesn't sound very professional. Imagine being in a hospital and hearing 'Admiral Feel Good report to surgery' over the PA," Josh was beginning to tease. 

The curious thing was that as far back as Josh could remember, Donna had never given snarky names to women he encountered. Sure, she hadn't liked Amy but she hadn't been rude to her and never christened her with a nickname. This was more Josh's domain – Commander Wonderful, Dr Freeride and so on. Interesting! Josh wondered if she even knew she was doing it, let alone why. 

"You're jealous!" Josh said triumphantly. 

"Am not," Donna replied. 

"You called her Admiral Feel Good, not Commander O'Donnell. Why would you do that? I think there is some jealousy there, don't you?" 

"No. Why would I be jealous? Just because you tell me an attractive woman was tending to your needs when you were sick, that is no reason to be jealous." 

"Aha! Who said she was attractive?" 

"Well, you did! And I met her. She was very pretty." 

"I said she was attractive?" Josh asked. 

"Yes, you told me about her looking at you with her big blue eyes and you were putty in her hand." 

"Maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe it wasn't her I was seeing," Josh said steadily. 

"I just think she should have been more thorough in her care of you." 

"Just like you are with me?" 

"Yes," Donna answered with out thinking. 

"Thank you," Josh said sincerely. 

They looked at each other. Donna knew the meds were still coursing through Josh's veins. He was being far too open. She also knew she should shut this conversation down before it joined the list of things he would prefer to forget about today. 

"You need to sleep Josh. I'm going to go now." 

Josh reached out and wrapped his hand around her wrist. "Stay," he pleaded. 

"Why?" 

"Because I feel better when you're around," he gave her the full dimpled smile below the bleary eyes. 

Donna found herself getting teary. Without a word, Josh swung his legs down and made room for her. She settled herself on the couch and he rested his head in her lap. He drifted back into drug induced slumber, aware of her hand stroking his hair. He could have sworn he heard her say, "I feel better when you're around too", but it could have been the drugs. Couldn't it?


End file.
